A field experiment was carried out in a typical dystrophic Red Latosol at the campus of the Universidade Federal de Lavras, in order to study the effects of the row numbers and fertilization level of the bean plant (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) upon the agronomic performance of the coffee shrub (Coffea arabica L.) associated with bean plant. The experimental randomized block design was used with three replicates and factorial scheme 4 x 4 + 1, as involving four intercalary row numbers of the bean plant (one, three, four, and six lines by each inter row of coffee shrub) and four fertilization doses (0, 50, 100, and 150% from the fertilization recommended for monocropping, consisting of 20 kg ha-1 N, 40 kg ha-1 P2O5 and 20 kg ha-1 K2O at planting timeplus 30 kg ha-1 N side-dressing), as well as one more additional treatment (monocropping of either coffee shrub or bean plant). The assay was conducted in a recently planted commercial Catucaí farming, whereas the cultivar of the bean plant was BRS-MG-Talismã. The following variables were evaluated for the bean plant: the initial and final stands; the plant heights; and the productivity of the beans with its primary components (pod number per plant, graim number per pod, and average100 graim weight). In coffee shrub, the characteristics under evaluation were the emission of leaf pairs and the increment in either plant height and stem diameter observed between sowing and harvesting the bean plant, as well as the mortality of the coffee shrubs. According to the results the increased number of the bean-plant intercalary rows rather rises the productivity of this leguminous, but reduces the increment of the stem diameter in the recently-planted coffee shrub. From four bean plant rows there is tendency to increased mortality of coffee shrubs, mainly in the absence of the leguminous fertilization. The fertilization up to 150% of the dose recommended to monocropping of the bean plant has no influence upon the productivity of this leguminous beans, although contributing to the reduced mortality in the recently-planted coffee shrub.
Intercroppings; coffee shrub -bean plant association; associated cropping; Phaseolus vulgaris; Coffea arabica
